Socialist Party Cork city councillor Mick Barry this morning accused
City Hall of operating a “slave labour jobs scam” after it emerged
that the Council had taken on 64 JobBridge interns since July 2011
without a single new job being created at the end of the process.

Cllr Barry said: “These young people never had the slightest chance
of being taken on. These internships were only a ‘bridge’ back to the
dole queues.”

He added: “A mere 19.5% of JobBridge interns end up with jobs
provided by the host organisation. But the public sector recruitment
embargo means that interns employed in the local authorities don’t
even have that 1-in-5 chance of a job.”

Cork City Council has shed more than 200 jobs since the embargo began
and earlier this year 1000 employees were advised of offers of
voluntary redundancy.

Cllr Barry said: “The Council are shedding hundreds of jobs which pay
trade union rates and at the same time are using slave labour
internships to fill the gaps. This is not the way the public sector
should operate.”

Cllr Barry appealed to JobBridge interns who have done internships at
the council to contact him and tell him of their experiences as
employees at City Hall.